Blazing Vale
by axleonex
Summary: A story of how a group of mercenaries helped bring about the fall of Vale.


Loki grinned as he placed the Atlas high tech helmet atop of his head. The car rocked as it transported him to the destination. His hair braids hanged loose behind the Atlas helmet, but that hardly mattered since he wasn't a real soldier. "This is so fucking cliche."

Jazmine rolled her eyes. Sitting across from him in the car, she had a pair of mouse-ear shaped headphones with speakers on the front in a retro neon-punk color design. Her red hair was styled into two puff shapes, and her olive tan skin tone was only slightly lighter than Loki's. "You got any better ideas?" She asked.

Azul raised a hand up. Her skin was blue, literally, not figuratively. While Loki's skin was brownish dark, Azul's skin was a natural sapphire that made hiding her faunus heritage impossible to hide. "I still say we should've gone the bomb threat," Azul commented.

"Not in Vale," Jazmine emphasized. "Bomb threats are taken seriously in cities, moreso with Atlas soldiers around. And calling for one right before the tournament? We'd be marked as terrorists instantly."

Loki asked, "wait, what's the difference between terrorists and thieves?"

Blaze answered from the driving seat of the vehicle while he drove. His afro styled hair stood out from the window's light. His visor shades hid the expression in his eyes. "Thieves are enemies of police," Blaze explained to his brother. "Terrorists are enemies of every legal entity in remnant. Let's not be on everyone's hate list."

Azul rolled her yoyo in front of her. "Well, I'm already on everyone's hate list, can I drag down the rest of yuz down with me?"

"I'm down with that," Loki commented, "all in favor of calling the bomb threat anyway, say 'I.'"

"Nay," Jazmine and Blaze said together. Blaze added, "as leader, I'm tie-breaker."

Loki frowned, but decided to drop the subject. Four Atlas soldiers were sitting in the back of the assault vehicle. They were stripped out of their uniforms and wore nothing but undergarments with their arms and legs tied. They had to sit back listening to banter with their mouths muzzled by socks.

Loki put on his helmet visor and asked the Atlas soldiers, "how do I look?"

The hostages gurgled at him, trying to express their disdain in loud grunting noises. Jazmine smirked and gave a thumbs up, "like a goddamn imperialist."

Jazmine didn't bother to point out that Loki's hair braids went against Atlas uniform standards. Like that mattered to them. Their job was to go in and come out, all within the short time range to avoid getting too much attention from Atlas.

It was ironic, really. Atlas soldiers were making their jobs more difficult, so they took advantage of their faceless uniform designs and decided to impersonate them.

"We're here," Blaze said from the driver's seat. Blaze steered into the parking lot of the bank building, and carefully set his car to park to avoid drawing any suspicion to themselves.

"Get in character," Blaze instructed. Jazmine and Azul finished putting on their uniforms. Azul's blue skin and Jazmine's mouse-like headphones made them stick out like sore thumbs, but their only mission was to scout for trouble. The real mission fell onto Loki and Blaze.

Loki, Azul, and Jazmine nodded from the behind. They stepped out from the vehicle and made sure to shut the door behind them, leaving the hostages trapped inside. "Relax," Jazmine said to them with a smirk, "think of this as your day off."

Loki commented, "you sound like a villain when you say it that way."

Jazmine's lips pursed. Azul added, "I'm still betting Jazmine will snap someday, that's why I stay on her good side."

Blaze left the vehicle front seat. His Atlas uniform matched Loki's, but he opted to leave the helmet off to display his puffy afro hair. He kept his unique cybernetic visor even though it went against standard Atlas policies.

"Focus," Blaz ordered in a hard voice.

The team fell quiet. With a nod from Blaze, Jazmine and Azul walked to the front of the bank doors and stood outside them to keep watch.

In their Atlas uniforms, Blaze and Loki walked into the building doors and headed towards the on-duty security officers. The two security guards stared at Loki and Blaze like they were freaks.

"We're here to relieve you," Blaze said.

"Your shifts over," Loki added. "Go home, we don't want you here."

The soldiers glanced at each other. One of them said, "your hair, that goes against regulation."

"Which is why we're substitutes," Blaze said sternly. "Speak to your captain if you have to. We're temp workers, so we don't need to go through full Atlas protocol."

The soldier stepped away from the front desk to make a phone call. After it was confirmed that they were to be relieved from duty by mercenaries, he hung up the phone and nodded to his coworker.

"Hard to believe Atlas is hiring mercenaries now," the soldier said taking the helmet off. The man had bright green eyes, and looked to be seventeen, the same age as Blaze.

"To save money," Blaze replied. "It's easier to pay a mercenary than train and pay a soldier. This place doesn't need high security, so mercenaries with Atlas uniform are enough to make people feel safe."

"That make sense," the soldier clapped his hands, smiling that his day of work was done. "Well, good luck here, the people are nice, it just gets boring as hell."

Loki chuckled, "yeah, that boring part is gonna suck."

XXX

Azul and Jazmine stood outside the bank entrance doors. The two relieved soldiers stepped out from the building relaxed, signalling that the plan was going well. They all knew that they had fifteen minutes to do this right. Eight if they got caught early. And two minutes to cash in on the bonus.

So they waited, hoping no one would screw up this time.

Around the corner, Ironwood and Winter walked towards them.

Oh fuck, Jazmine thought to herself. She looked over at them, and wondered if they were arriving for a surprise inspection. After analyzing Ironwood's relaxed shoulders and casual walking stride, Jazmine realized that Ironwood was off duty. Simply strolling through the city to enjoy himself.

"Fuck that guy," Jazmine whispered at Azul.

Azul smiled, "well, quit being a pussy, and say it to his face."

"No way," Jazmine whispered, "the plan, the plan. I'm not screwing this up because I hate'em."

As the Atlas personnel figureheads passed, Jazmine felt the need to say, "evening sir!" in a respectful tone to keep up their ruse.

Winter acknowledged the greeting, and ordered, "as you were."

Azul said, "you're doing a spectacular job, sir!"

Oh no, Jazmine thought.

Ironwood acknowledged the compliment with a nod and smile. Before Ironwood could walk away from hearing distance, Azul added, "and I do mean that ironically, sir."

Ironwood turned back to them, "what was that soldier?"

Azul didn't say anything. Jazmine tapped at her ear piece discreetly as Ironwood stepped in front of Azul. Ironwood asked again, "do you have a problem with the way I command, soldier?"

In a hard, cold response, Azul answered, "my only problem, sir, is that you run things like a little bitch."

XXX

As soon as the previous Atlas soldier left, Loki and Blaze walked to an accountant's office. Blaze locked the door behind him as Loki stood outside to keep watch.

"Mitsu," Blaze said.

Mitsu leaned on his office chair tasting pizza with his head tilted back. He was clearly enjoying himself, and hadn't expected guests that day. Looking forward to see Blaze in front of his desk, he paused with both surprise and confusion. "Uh…. Why'd you lock the door?"

Mitsu's eyes were slightly squinted, his figure was lean, which was surprising considering his rumored obsession of food. But supposedly, Mitsu was a warrior, and Blaze wasn't going to underestimate him.

"Two words," Blaze said, "money, embezzlement."

Mitsu clicked a button beneath his desk. Blaze said, "we deactivated the security here."

Mitsu reached for his desk drawer. Inside were two nunchucks, but Blaze pulled out his sword handle and extended it into a long hook blade. He slashed the sword near Mitu's wrist, letting the hook of the blade encircle his wrist. "Don't move," Blaze commanded, "or the hand comes off."

Mitsu gulped. Blaze said, "Adam wants you alive. To make an example out of you."

"Wha…. Why?"

"You think just because the White Fang got beaten once, you can stop funding them? The White Fang cause never dies, you had a job. And you needed to continue it."

"How was I supposed to know that?" His voice croaked, "Roman is in prison, I funded the White Fang through him. How was I supposed to know what to do?"

"You froze the assets," Blaze responded. "You could've saved the money and placed it somewhere secret. Instead, you withdrew it and stashed it for yourself."

"I can get you the money!" Mitsu said, "just… Tell Adam I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Adam is understanding," Blaze said. He took out an ankle bracelet and put it on the desk. "But that won't save you."

Blaze placed the ankle bracelet around Mitsu's ankle without asking for permission. He said, "if you walked outside of fifteen feet from me, you'll die." He pointed to the exit door, "so I suggest you focus on living now, and worry about Adam later."

Mistru gulped. They both walked forward and outside the accountant's office.

"Blaze," Jazmine said over their ear pieces, "please tell me you have Mistu."

"We do," Loki answered over his earpiece.

"Good," Jazmine said, "Ironwood is here. Commence phase two."

Blaze and Loki pointed their Atlas stolen assault rifles at the air. With a click, they fired them at the ceiling letting smokey debris fall over the bank's customers. Loki yelled, "this is a robbery, everyone get down!"

Civilians and staff screamed as they fell to the ground. Panic ensued as the people covered their eyes and ears to 'hide' from the presence of guns. Loki announced, "if any of you jokes even think of making funny moves, we'll start blowing up heads!"

Rotem placed the rifle towards Mitu's head, "starting with this guy."

XXX

Ironwood leaned close to Azul, "I'll have you court martialed."

"I'm a faunus, sir," Azul said. "You think that's the worst thing that can happen to me? Let me enlighten you general. One week ago. Village in the north side of Remnant was attacked by bandits. They were under Atlas protection, but you withdrew your soldiers for this damn tournament. My friends are dead all because of your shitty leadership. That tells me you give more flying fucks about this damn festival than goddamn lives."

Iron wood froze upon realizing what she was talking about. He couldn't help but feel sympathy towards her. Even though the girl had no right to tell him how to lead, Ironwood could understand where the sentiments came from. "Listen soldier, we can't-"

The sound of gunshots was heard from inside building. Azul headbutted Ironwood in the nose. Winter withdrew her sword. "It's a trap!"

Jazmine dropped her gun. She tactically smacked her palms at Winter's hands, sending strange sensations across her bones. The hits were geometric, hitting at just the right pressure points to cause the most damage to Winter with the least amount of force.

When Winter realized her pressure points were hit, she flipped backwards to distance herself from Jazmine.

Ironwood stumbled back at the headbutt, but quickly stepped forward into a fighting stance. He took out his walkie talkie and said, "bank robbery, south street. I want all Atlas personal within this block here now!"


End file.
